Time magazine included a paper co-authored by scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center among its highlighted health and science stories of 2009.
The recognition might have been a little sweeter if Time had mentioned the UT Health Science Center by name. But oh well.
As my colleague Elizabeth Allen wrote, the scientists at the health science center gave the immune suppressing drug rapamycin to 2,000 mice, and found it extended their lifespans — 14 percent for female mice and 9 percent for males.
They aren’t sure why rapamycin makes mice live longer, and there are plenty of concerns about giving the drug to people, given what’s known about side effects. But the National Institutes of Health gave the health science center more than $5 million to dig deeper.
The paper was published in the journal Nature last July. A competing top-tier journal, Science, named it a runner-up as scientific breakthrough of the year.